Scalet Letter

             The "6th Sense" of Sinners
             In the Novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the society of a Puritan town of Boston excludes anyone who is a nonconformist or is in any way deviant from their thoughts, laws, and standards. However, the townspeople themselves are not without fault. However, they try to conceal and contain their passions and all their faults due to their own fear of being excluded. All the characters in the book who are excluded from society are the ones who are the most "natural" and true at heart, possessing a sixth-sense perception and almost magical intuition that allows them to see through the public facade that others project in order to protect themselves. There are five main characters, throughout the novel that either obtain or this sixth-sense or have it used against them to see through their own facades. These characters are Hester Prynne; Pearl, her daughter; Roger Chillingworth, Hester's husband; Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, the priest that Hester committed adultery with; and finally Mistress Hibbins, the governor's sister that is a witch.
             Hester Prynne's separation from the townspeople is both physical and mental. The townspeople expel her from the town and label her as an adulteress. She goes to live with her illegitimate daughter, who's name is ironically Pearl, in a cottage, "not in close vicinity to any other habitation"(68). The whole town despises them, children throw stones at and chase them down the street. People do not dare to come close to Hester because they are afraid of her mark, the scarlet "A," as an outcast. To the townspeople, Hester's character is something different and uncertain from the values to which they are accustomed. "Wherever Hester stood, a small, vacant area - a sort of magic circle - had formed about her, into which none ventured, or felt disposed to intrude (206)." Hester is destined to ...

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Scalet Letter. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 12:46, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/39213.html